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REVIEW 



OF 



IPASlKPlMlLIM^f 



ON 



SLAVERY AND COLONIZATION 



FIRST PUBLISHED IN THE 

Quarterly Christian Spectator, 



FOR MARCH, 1833. 



V 



^ 



^ / 



SECOND SEPARATE EDITION. 




PUBLISHED AND SOLD BY A. H. MALTBY- 

BOSTON — PIERCE AND PARKER. 

Printed by Baldwin ^ Ellis. 
18 3 3. 



15 tZ 



Thoughts on African Colonization ; or an Impartial Exhibition of 
the Doctrines, Principles, and Purposes of the American Colo- 
nization Society. Together with the Resolutions, Addresses, 
and Remonstrances of the Free People of Color, &ic. By Wm. 
Lloyd Garrison. Boston: 1832. 

A Letter to Thomas Clarkson, by James Cropper. And Preju- 
dice Vincible : or the Practicability of conquering prejudice by 
better means than by slavery and exile ; in relation to the Amer- 
ican Colonization Society. By C. Stuart, &z;c. Liverpool : 
1832. 

The American Quarterly Review, No. XXIII, September, 1832, 
Article VIII. Abolition of Negro Slavery. 






SLAVERY AND COtOIVIZATIOIV. 



A FEW months ago, we gave some account of Mr. William 
Lloyd Garrison's Address to the people of color, and especially 
of the objections urged in that document against the American 
Colonization Society. The present work is a reiteration of the 
same objections in a more expanded form, with more vehemence 
and abusiveness of manner, with more numerous and striking de- 
monstrations of unusual self-respect, and with an imposing show 
of what the uninformed or inconsiderate reader would regard as 
testimony, in support of his various allegations. We do not pro- 
pose, therefore, to examine all the counts of his dreadful indict- 
ment in detail ; showing what is the truth in the instances in 
which he has propounded error ; it is enough to refer the intelli- 
gent and candid reader to our former article.* All that we intend 
in respect to Mr. Garrison's ponderous pamphlet is, to offer a few 
critical remarks tending to show the character of his performance, 
and the danger of resting with implicit confidence on his repre- 
sentations of even plain matters. We have to do, in this article, 
with Mr. Garrison's method of reasoning ; and we shall defend 
the institution which he has assailed, only so far as it may be 
defended by the exposure of some of his sophistries. 

The allegations of this book against the American Colonization 
Society, as distinctly and formally set down, in so many sections, 
are the following. 

I. " The American Colonization Society is pledged not to op- 
pose the system of slavery ;" or, as we read the running title of 
the section, it " is not hostile to slavery ;" or, as it is expounded 
in another instance, it " is solemnly pledged not to interfere with 
the system of slavery, or in any manner to disturb the repose of 
the planters f or, to turn to another paragraph, it " pledges itself 
not only to respect the system of slavery, but to frown indignantly 
upon those who shall dare to assail it." 

II. " The American Colonization Society apologizes for slavery 
and slaveholders." That is — if we read aright— it " exonerates 
the supporters of the slave system from reprehension." 

III. '^ The American Colonization Society recognizes slaves as 
property." " This recognition," says the accuser, " is not mere- 
ly technical, or strictly confined to a statutable interpretation." 
[Pray, what is " a statutable interpretation" of a recognition ?"] 
" I presume," he proceeds, " the advocates of the society will 
attempt to evade this point, by saying that it never meant to con- 
cede the moral right of the masters to possess human beings ; but 

* Christian Spectator, June, 1832, pp. 324—333. 



the evidence against them is full and explicit. The society, if 
language mean any thing, does unequivocally acknowledge prop- 
erty in slaves to he as legitimate and sacred as any other property, 
of which to deprive the owners either by force or by legislation 
without making restitution, would be unjust and tyrannical." 

IV. "The American Colonization Society increases the value 
of slaves." "Thus" it " is the apologist, ihe friend, and the 
patron of slaveholders and slavery." 

V. It " is the enemy of immediate abolition." 

VI. It " is nourished by fear and selfishness." Its " governing 
motive is fear — undisguised, excessive fear." " The principal ob- 
ject avowed for the removal of the free people of color, is, their 
corruptive and dangerous influence over the slave population." 
" Throughout all the speeches, addresses, and reports in behalf of 
the society, it is confessed, in language strong and explicit, that an 
irrepressible and agonizing fear of the influence of the free people 
of color, over the slave population is the primary, essential, and 
prevalent motive for colonizing them on the coast of Africa — and 
not, as we are frequently urged to believe, a desire simply to me- 
liorate their condition and civilize that continent." 

VII. " The American Colonization Society aims at the utter 
expulsion of the blacks." Its " implacable spirit is most apparent 
in its determination not to cease from its labors, until our whole 
colored population be expelled from the country." It "expressly 
denies the right of the slaves to enjoy their freedom and happi- 
ness in this country." 

VIII. It " is the disparager of the free blacks." " The leaders 
in the African colonization crusade, seem to dwell with a malig- 
nant satisfaction upon the poverty and degredation of the free 
people of color, and are careful never to let an opportunity pass 
without heaping their abuse and contempt upon them." 

IX. " The American Colonization Society denies the possibili- 
ty of elevating the blacks in this country." In the running title, 
this accusation is thus expressed, " The American Colonization 
Society prevents the instruction of the blacks." In the course of 
the illustration it is explained thus, " The society prevents the ed- 
ucation of this class, in the most insidious and effectual manner, 
by constantly asserting that they must always be a degraded peo- 
ple in this country, and that the cultivation of their minds will 
avail them nothing." 

X. "The American Colonization Society deceives and misleads 
the nation." This means, as we understand it, after a careful ex- 
amination of the illustration and argument, not only that the hopes 
inspired by the establishment of the colony are delusive, and ope- 
rate to divert the public mind from other and more efficient un- 
dertakings ; but also that the society, knowingly and intentionally 
imposes on the public by false representations of plain matters 
of fact. 



These are the charges. The author does not regard one of 
them as light or trivial. His style and language show that, in 
every section, he considers himself as imputing great criminality 
to somebody. He is not merely exposing the error of attempting 
to colonize Africa with free people of color from America ; he is 
charging crime upon a great multitude of persons. 

Against whom then are these charges preferred ? Whom does 
the accuser mean by the American Colonization Society ? Does 
he mean merely the managers and executive officers of the insti- 
tution, at Washington ? Does he mean those individuals only, 
who habitually act and vote at the annual meetings in the Capitol ? 
Or does he use the title, "Colonization Society," to designate 
the great body of the friends and supporters of the African colony 
of Liberia? We are constrained to adopt the latter construction. 
We cannot but suppose that when, in this pamplet, he accuses 
" the American Colonization Society," he understands himself, 
and wishes to be understood by his readers, as bringing charges 
against the self-same persons, whom in his former pamplet he ac- 
cused, in nearly the same words, under the names of " coloniza- 
tionists" and " supporters of the African scheme." 

Yet it is not without some reason, some final cause, that in the 
present instance the object of attack is designated by another 
name. In the address to the people of color, the simple object 
was to prejudice their minds invincibly against the influence of a 
certain class of philanthropic individuals, namely those who in any 
manner befriend the African colony ; and therefore the orator 
spoke of the " doctrines, principles, and purposes of colonization- 
ists.^' In the work now under review, the object is to prejudice 
the public at large, against any participation in the enterprise of 
colonizing Africa; and therefore the writer represents these 
" doctrines, principles, and purposes," as part and parcel of the""""* 
American Colonization Society. The obvious scope and design 
of the whole book, is to make the readers feel, that they cannot 
support the enterprise of the American Colonization Society, 
without supporting, and virtually subscribing, all these opinions 
and principles. Here, then, is the first and leading fallacy of Mr. 
Garrison's indictment, a fallacy which we presume has imposed 
upon his mind, as we know it has imposed upon the minds of 
some others, more intelligent and coolheaded than he. Admit- 
ting, for the present, the perfect fairness of all the quotations in 
this book, admitting that the author has succeeded in fastening 
upon colonizationists, as he calls them, a mass of opinions and 
principles which deserve unqualified reprobation ; what has this 
to do with Liberia, and the voluntary migration of colored people 
to the country of their ancestors ? The opinions, speeches, es- 
says, and professions of colonizationists, are one thing ; and colo- 
nization itself, is another thing. The American Colonization So- 



6 

ciety has nothing to do with any man's opinions. It is no more a 
society for the propagation of paiticular doctrines respecting sla- 
very, or respecting the capabilities, rights, and injuries of the 
people of color, than the Bank of the United States is a society 
for the propa^^aiion of particular doctrines respecting cnrrency. 
Like the Bible Society, it asks no man what he believes ; it sets 
forth no confession of faiih to be subscribed by its friends. Like 
the Bible Society, it holds up the single definite work which it 
proposes to perform, and asks for nothing but co-operation. The 
only point of union which connects so many persons in that " com- 
bination," as Mr. Garrison calls it, is this, they all agree to co- 
operate in promoting the colonization of Africa, by the emigration 
of free people of color from America. Among them all, not one 
can be held responsible for the opinions, political or religious, of 
anv other. We count it a privilege to number ourselves among 
the friends and supporters of African colonization. We are ready 
to give to the enterprise, whatever influence we can employ for its 
advancement. We believe that this enterprise is infallibly tending 
to great and good results ; and we have often taken occasion to 
propound our opinions on this subject ; but we never dreamed that 
in so doing, we were propounding opinions, for which all the indi- 
viduals who might be found co-operating with us, were to be re- 
sponsible. So others have published their speculations, in public 
debate or through the press ; and however they may difier from 
us, in respect to this or that important bearing of the enterprise, 
whatever heresies they may hold about the rights of the people of 
color on this soil, or the practicability or even the desirableness of 
the speedy abolition of slavery, by what authority can they be hin- 
dered from speaking or writing in favor of colonization ? — or who 
shall stand over against the society's treasury, and forbid their mo- 
ney to come in, if they choose to give it ? We have read speeches 
and essays in support of this cause, which contained, as we thought, 
serious errors; but little did we dream that any man had a right 
to impute those errors to us, or that we were bound to withdraw 
our friendship from the society, till such men's mouths should be 
sealed up. Yet the very scope of Mr. Garrison's argunment is, 
You must not favor the cause of African colonization, for in so 
doing, you will gi;^e the right hand of fellowship to all the erro- 
neous principles on which that enterprise has at any time been 
supported ; and you will become a partaker in the guilt of all the 
selfish and unhallowed motives, which have ever had influence 
with any of its friends or advocates. 

If the reader would see how completely the style of argument 
in this book, confounds the society with every member of the so- 
ciety, and with every friend and fellow-worker in the enterprise, 
let him read the argument and citations under the first section. 
'* The American Colonization Society," says Mr. G. " is pledged 



not to oppose the s^-stem of slavery." Very true : the Society is 
pledged not to oppose slavery ; and it is equally pledged not to 
oppose intemperance or sabbath-breaking ; for by its constitution, 
its resources are to be exclusively directed to a particular object, 
and that object is not the publication of anti-slavery tracts, or the 
diffusion of temperance principles, or the instruction of the public 
mind respecting the authority of the christian sabbath, but the 
colonization of Africa. Yet this simple pledge, to wit, the fact 
that the constitution of the society, makes it exclusively a coloni- 
zation society, and not an anti-slavery tract society, is a grievous 
offense to Mr. Garrison. Straightway he rises into a towBring 
passion against the society, as if its members and friends, were one 
and all pledged, "solemnly pledged" as individuals, never to say 
a word in opposition to slavery. " I want no better reason than 
this," he exclaims, " to wage an uncompromising warfare against 
it. No man has a right to form an alliance with others, which 
prevents him from rebuking sin, or exposing the guilt of sinners." 
We are not aware that any such alliance has been formed. Cer- 
tainly we have never become a party to such a contract. Perhaps 
it will relieve the mind of this uncompromising man, to be inform- 
ed that by the payment of one dollar annually, he himself may 
become a member of the American Colonization Society, and 
take a part with his voice and his vote, at all its meetings for busi- 
ness, and still be as zealous as ever in propagating his own pecu- 
liar opinions respecting slavery and the rights of Africans. 

But, the author will tell us, the pledge of the constitution is not 
all : have I not summoned a cloud of witnesses, to prove some- 
thing more ? We ask in reply, how much more do these nine 
pages of extracts from speeches, reviews and essays, prove ? So 
far as they merely repeat and expound the constitution of the so- 
ciety, they prove nothing at all. So far as they advance beyond 
that line, they express simply the sentiments of individuals, and 
can be fairly imputed to none but their individual authors. Should 
it be said, that even with these limitations they prove that " coloni- 
zationists generally agree" in not opposing slavery ; we may an- 
swer they prove no such thing, for it would be perfectly easy to 
quote from what the friends of the society have said and written, 
at least as many pages, expressing sentiments of settled opposition 
to slavery, of ardent desire for its abolition, and of inflexible re- 
solve to aim by peaceable means at the overthrow of the system. 

Here then, we repeat, is the first and leading fallacy of the 
pamphlet before us, a fallacy which runs through every section. 
It regards any body who happens to speak or write in favor of 
colonization, as an authorized expositor of the views of the society. 
It regard^s every exceptionable or seemingly exceptionable senti- 
ment, which can be culled out of such speeches and essays, as if 
it were incorporated into the society's constitution 5 and its con- 



slant aim is, to make the reader feel that if he befriends the cause, 
he gives his support to every such obnoxious sentiment. 

VVe have other objections to the methods of proof adopted in 
this pamphlet. The author is chargeable with great unfairness in 
his quotations. Any reader who derives his first knowledge, or 
his chief knowledge of the society from this pamphlet, is naturally- 
impressed by the frequency with which citations are given from 
the reports of the society. It seems as if the author were deter- 
mined to have the very best authority for all bis declarations. It 
seems as if the institution were to be condemned by the official 
statements of its managers, formally accepted by the members at 
their annual meetings. The efi'ect of passages cited from " Sec- 
ond Annual Report," "Tenth Annual Report" etc., is highly im- 
portant in respect to the impression which the author is aiming to 
produce on his readers. Now it so happened that we recognized 
as old acquaintances some of the sentences thus quoted, and knew 
that such sentences were never incorporated in any report of the 
managers to the society. This led us to examine a few other 
sentences quoted in the same manner, as from the official commu- 
nications of the board of managers. One after another was 
searched for in vain through the body of the report referred to, 
and was found at last either in some speech delivered at the an- 
nual meeting, and published with the report as a part of the pre- 
liminary matter, or in some of the documents included as articles 
of intelligence in the appendix. And if we may judge from the 
multiplied instances which we have been at the trouble of examin- 
ing, and which have been taken altogether at random, nearly all the 
quotations which seem to be from the Annual Reports, are only 
quotations from the matters which accompany the Annual Reports 
as published. INIr. Garrison may say, that in all this he had no 
intention to deceive ; but whatever may have been his intention, 
the quotations are in fact unfair and deceptive. He may say, 
that he referred to the reports only as pamphlets known by that 
name, he may say that the distinction between the report and the 
various matters printed with it, did not occur to him as important ; 
but no apology can rectify the actual unfairness of his quotations. 
And what makes the unfairness more striking and more effectual, 
is, he recognizes at first, again and again, the very distinction 
which he afterwards so generally disregards. Through the first 
section and a part of the second, he carefully observes this dis- 
tinction, in all his quotations ; but then, as if he felt the necessity 
of something more imposing and authoritative than extracts from 
speeches and appendixes, and as if he had ascertained that he 
was likely to find very little which would be to his purpose, in the 
actual coinnmnications of the managers to their constituents, he 
begins suddenly to accumulate quotation upon quotation from 
"Annual Reports" in a style as deceptive as it is impressive. 



The deception may be accidental ; but its effect is to mislead the 
uninformed and unsuspecting reader, as really as if it was designed. 

In addition to this, the author palpably misconstrues the lan- 
guage, and misrepresents the sentiments, of those whose words he 
adduces in proof of his accusations. It is enough for us to bring 
forward such instances of this, as have happened, for particular 
reasons, to arrest our attention. A few examples of this kind, 
will suffice to show how far this pamphlet may be trusted as " an 
impartial exhibition" of the opinions entertained by the friends of 
colonization. 

Among his nine pages of proofs, that the American Colonization 
Society is not hostile to slavery, we find the following passage cited 
from the Christian Spectator, for September, 1830. 

This institution proposes to do good by a single specific course of measures. 
Its direct and specifii- purpose is vot. the abolition of slavery, [the italics are Mr. 
Garrison's not ours,] or tlie relief of pauperism, or the extension of commerce 
and civilization, or the enlargement of science, or tiie conversion of the heathen. 
The single object which its c<in3titution prescribes, and to which all its efforts 
are necessarily dincted, is, African colonization from America. It proposes only 
to afford tacilities for the voluntary emigration of free people of color from this 
country to the country of their fathers, pp. 45. 46. 

Now who would suppose, from the manner in which this quo- 
tation is made, and the proposition of INIr. G. which it is designed 
to establish — who would suppose that one leading object of the 
article from which the sentence is extracted, is to prove that the 
progress of colonization will infallibly act upon public opinion 
throughout the slaveholding states, in such a manner as greatly to 
accelerate the abolition of slavery, and its abolition not by succes- 
sive instances of private manumission, but by legislation? Who 
•would suppose that the very document from which ftlr. G. derives 
the proof that the society makes no opposition to slavery, urges, as 
the grand argument in behalf of the society, the infallible tendency 
of its enterprise, to abolish that unchristian and accursed system? 
Yet such is the fact. 

In another place, the following sentences are credited to the 
African Repository. They belong in fact to an " Address to the 
public by the managers of the Colonization Society of Connecti- 
cut," published in 1828. 

It is taken for granted, that inpresent cimtwstances. am( effort to inoduce a sren- 
eral and thorough amelioration in the character and cundition of the free people of 
color, must be to a great extent fruitless. In every part of the United l^tales there 
is a broad and impassable line of demarcation between every man who has one 
drop of African blood irk. his veins, and every other class in the community. The 
habits, the feelings, all the prejudices of society — |)rejudices which ntiiher re- 
finement, nor argument, nor education, nor religion itseif can subdue- — maik the 
people of color, whether bond or free, as the subjects of a degr.idation inevitable 
and incurable. The African in this country belongs bv biitli to the very lowest 
station in society ; and from that station he can never rise, be his talents, his en- 
terprise, his virtues what they may They constitute a (hiss by themselves 

— a class out of which no individual can be elevated, and below which none 
can be depressed. And this is the difficulty, the invariable and insuperable difB- 
cu t.' in the way of every scheme for iheir benefit. Much can be done lor them 
— much has been done ; but still they aro, and, in this country, always must be 
a depressed and abject race, p 136. 

2 



10 

We have taken away Mr. Garrison's italics and capitals, and 
have restored the emphasis with which the words were originally 
printed. Will the reader believe, that this, as it stands in the 
pamphlet before us, is one of the author's strongest testimonies to 
prove that the American Colonization Society prevents the in- 
struction of the blacks, and denies the possibility of elevating them 
in this country. The position which the writer of the Address 
undertakes to illustrate, in the paragraph from which these senten- 
ces are culled, is that "in PRESENT CIRCUMSTANCES any cfFort 
to produce a general and thorough amelioration in the character 
and condition of the people of color must be, to a great extent, 
fruitless." The whole paragraph describes their condition as af- 
fected by "■ present circumstances." And one point, one distinct 
head of argument, which the address urges on the public, is the 
common, and with many friends of the society, favorite topic, 
that the success and progress of the work of colonization will 
change those " present circumstances," that it " will not only 
bless the colonists, but will react to elevate the standing 
OF those who remain behind," and that from beyond the At- 
lantic there will come a light to beam upon the degradation of the 
negro in America. We leave it to every man's sense of truth and 
fairness whether here is not, on the part of Mr. Garrison, something 
of the nature of iBisconstruction. 

We go farther. This author not only misconstrues, but he gar- 
bles, mutilates, and interpolates false explanations, to make his 
misconstructions more effectual. Take the following example of 
a quotation from the same document from which the preceding 
was selected. 

He [tlie planter] looks around him and sees that the condition of the great mass 
of emancipated Africans is one in comparison with which the condition of his 
slaves is enviable ; — and he is convinced that if he withdraws from his slaves his 
authority, his support, his protection, and leaves ihem to shift for themselves, he 
turns the mout to be vagabonds, and paupers, and felons, and to find in the work- 
house and the penitentiary, the homo which they ought to have retained on his 
paternal acres, p. C2. 

Here the interpolated explanation entirely changes the meaning 
of the sentence. The writer whose words are thus applied, is not 
speaking of " the planter," that is, of planters generally ; but is 
supposing a particular case, the case of a slaveholder by inherit- 
ance, who wishes to act conscientiously towards the beings whom 
he finds " dependent on him for protection and support and gov- 
ernment," and who ' may be made to feel the evils of slavery as 
strongly as any man ;' — and to prevent the possibility of such a 
misconstruction as I\lr. Garrison has forced upon his language, he 
subjoins to the sentence above quoted, "This is no unreal case. 
There may be slaves — theie are slaves by thousands and tens of 
thousands — whose condition is that of the most abject distress ; but 
these are the slaves of nfiasters whose whole conduct is a constant 
•violation of duty, and with whom the suggestion of giving freedom 



11 

to their slaves would not be harbored for a moment. The case 
which we have supposed, is the case of a master really desirous to 
benefit his slaves." The author of Thoughts on African Coloni- 
zation has certainly some peculiar ideas of the way to make '' an 
impartial exhibition" of other men's opinions. 

At the hazard of exhausting the reader's patience we must add 
one more example of our author's way of making quotations. The 
following passage is ascribed to the Review on African Coloni- 
zation in the Christian Spectator for September, 1830. 

For the existence of slavery in the United States, those, and those only, are 
accountable who bore a part in originating such a constitution of society. The 
bible contains no explicit prohibition of slavery. There is neither chapter nor 
verse of holy writ, vvliicli lends any countenance to the fulminating spirit of uni- 
versal emancipation, of which some exhibitions may be seen in some of the 
newspapers, p. 63. 

Now we utterly deny and abjure the authorship of such a para- 
graph. The fact is, that these three sentences, thus strung together, 
and with the meaning which they necessarily convey to tlie reader, 
whose first sight of them is in this connection, never before ap- 
peared in the Christian Spectator. It is true indeed, that each one 
of the three sentences which Mr. G. has thus arranged as in a con- 
nected train of thought, does actually occur in the article referred 
to ; but they occur in such connections, and are applied in the 
course of the argument to such uses, as must very materially mo- 
dify their meaning in the mind of every candid reader. We were 
speaking of slavery as a certain constitution of society, by which 
one man is constituted the hereditary lord of other men, and is 
invested with an absolute property in their labor and in that of their 
children ; and we said that " for the existence of slavery in the Uni- 
ted States, those, and those only, are accountable, who bore a 
part in originating such a constitution of society." The word eo:- 
istence was marked as emphatic ; and our object was, as appears 
from the very next page, while conceding to the advocates of sla- 
very the matter of a favorite plea in its defense, to throw upon the 
consciences of the present generation of citizens in the slaveholding 
states, the responsibility of reforming this constitution of society, 
or of continuing it, and transmitting it with all its curses to pos- 
terity. How simple and harmless a truth did we propound ; how 
unlike the heresy which ]\Ir. Garrison would make us utter. The 
constitution of Massachusetts, perhaps, contains some principles 
which are inconsistent with justice and the public good; for the 
existence of such a constitution, those citizens who were born un- 
der it, are not accountable ; for the transmission of it to another 
generation, they are accountable. In just this way we argued 
with General Hayne, on a subsequent page.* He had said in 
defense of slavery, " If slavery, as it exists in this country be an 
evil, we of the present day found it ready made to our hands." 
We replied by asking him directly and personally, " Have you 
* Christian Spectator, 1530, p. 522. 



12 

done all in your power to remedy the evil, and to transmit to other 
generations a better inheritance?" He had said, "We found we 
had to do with a people whose physical, moral, and intellectual 
habits and character, totally disqualified them for the enjoyment of 
the blessings of freedom." Our reply was, " What have you done 
— what single thing do you propose to do for the improvement of 
the character and habits, physical, moral, and intellectual, which 
at the present time totally disqualify for freedom, more than half 
the population of a high-minded republic ?" 

But to return to Mr. Garrison's quotation. We did indeed say 
in another paragraph, " The bible contains no explicit prohibition 
of slavery ;" but we need not say that the stress of the sentence 
obviously rested on the word explicit. We added a still greater 
"concession" to the advocate of slavery, and one which we mar- 
vel that Mr. G. has not wrested to some of his purposes. " It 
[the bible] recognizes both in the old testament, and the new, 
the existence of such a constitution of society, and it lends its au- 
thority to enforce the mutual obligations resulting from that consti- 
tution." But what else said we of the relations of Christianity to 
slavery ? How far did we permit our concessions to be carried ? 
Did we " go the whole" in defense of slavery, as in our author's 
manner of quotation, we seem to have done. " The advocates of 
slavery," we said " take it lor granted, that because Christianity re- 
cognizes such a state of society, and enforces the mutual duties 
arising therefrom, it sanctions slavery itself. This is a great and pal- 
pable error. The new testament contains no express prohibition of 
polygamy. Is polygamy therefore consistent with Christianity ?" 
" Cliristianity is always the antagonist principle of slavery." Is Mr. 
Garrison's quotation an " impartial exhibition" of our doctrine ? 

So of the third sentence in the above cited patchwork paragraph. 
We did indeed say, "There is neither chapter nor verse of holy 
writ, which lends any countenance to the fulminating spirit of uni- 
versal emancipation, of which some exhibitions may be seen in 
some of the newspapers." But we said also in illustrating the 
opposition of Christianity to slavery, " Its genius is the genius of 
universal emancipation. It proclaims liberty to the captive, and 
the opening of the prison doors to them that are bound." Is Mr. 
G. guilty of no misrepresentation here ? Or is it a crime to deny 
that there is chapter or verse to countenance a fulminating spirit 
of universal emancipation. 

But it is not enough with this author to make unfair references, 
to misconstrue, to garble and pack his quotations, or to interpolate 
clauses, which under pretense of explanation totally pervert the 
meaning, he resorts to direct assertions of a very questionable — ■ 
perhaps we ought rather to say — of a very unquestionable char- 
acter. In making a reference to the article from which the above 
passages have been quoted, he says, " Vide the ('hrislian Spectator 
for September, 1830, in which the reader will find an elaborate 



13 

apology foi- the system of slavery." Mark it reader, and admire 
the hardihood of the man. " An elaborate apology for the system 
of slavery !" Had he said an apology for slaveholding, we might 
have classed the assertion under tlie head of simple misrepresenta- 
tion, and should have ascribed it to the peculiar intellectual confor- 
mation of a man, among whose good qualities precise accuracy of 
statement is not the most remarkable. But he speaks of an apol- 
ogy, not for slaveholding, not for slavery in the sense of being the 
master of slaves, but for the system of slavery. And the apology 
spoken of, cannot be an incidental apology ; it cannot be an apol- 
ogy contained in one or two unguarded and unfortunate admissions ; 
it is an elaborate apology, and can therefore be none other than 
a direct defense of the system, a defense made of set purpose. 
We leave it to others to explain how or why this author ventured 
on an assertion so reckless. 

We have taken this book in hand and made this exposure of 
some of its most prominent faults, not because we consider it our 
business particularly to look after the author, and to put him right 
when he goes wrong, nor because we suppose that the book, stand- 
ing on its own merits, and making its own way to influence, would 
have needed any refutation, but because we knowthatthe author is 
sustained, and his book patronized by men more deserving than he is. 
How far the statements and exhibitions of the book can be safely 
trusted as '• impartial," our readers can judge from the facts which 
have been laid before them. It is not to be supposed, that Mr. 
Garrison will follow any hint of ours at parting ; bin if he would, we 
should advise him to let alone controversy, and stick-to his poetry. 
This we say not out of any disrespect to his talents ; for he writes 
admirable verses, and might do much in that way for the cause to 
which he has devoted himself — fiir more than he is likely to do 
in his present course of effort. We think that in undertaking to 
frame arguments, to make " impartial exhibitions," to discuss prin- 
ciples, he has mistaken his calling ; but if hewill go on, we have 
only to wish for him that he may learn much by practice and expe- 
rience. When we next cross his track, may we find him exhib- 
iting more modesty, more meekness, more candor, more wisdom, 
and more logic, than we can now discover in his productions. We 
hope, especially, that as he grows older, he may acquire more 
suavity of temper, and more gentleness of manner. The style 
which he employs — we beg his friends and advisers candidly to 
ponder this remark — is not the style to do good with. Satan cannot 
cast outsatan. Such wrath and railing, such recklessness and coarse- 
ness of vituperation, as fill his writings, may inflame, but cannot 
enlighten, may irritate and enrage, but cannot convince. We be- 
lieve that cool and patient argument may do much, even with 
slaveholders; we are sure that "sound and fury" can do nothing 
but mischief. We cannot doubt that the efforts of this writer, and 
his coadjutors, are disastrously delaying the arrival of that hour. 



14 

when public sentiment, in the slaveholdiiig states, shall turn with 
a rapid and irresistible tide against slavery. 

We come now to the second of the documents, on which we pro- 
pose to comment in this article. This is a pamphlet of twentj-four 
pages, by two zealous and leading friends of abolition in England. 
James Cropper's letter to Thomas Clarkson, is a letter of expos- 
tulation on account of Mr. Clarkson's testimony in favor of the en- 
terprise of the American Colonization Society, and it refers the 
venerable philanthropist, for ample and irresistible conviction ofhis 
errors, to "friend Charles Stuart's" arguments, which are append- 
ed under the title of " Prejudice Vincible, etc." Captain Stuart 
is a man almost as passionate as Mr. Garrison, but he has a much 
better idea of the nature of an argument. His information, how- 
ever, respecting the nature of the Colonization Society, and the 
tendency of its efforts, is altogether inadequate, being derived, 
mostly from the "impartial exhibitions" which we have just been 
Contemplating. Indeed Capt. Stuart's essay is little else than an 
abstract of Mr. Garrison's " Thoughts on Colonization," with some 
additions and modifications. 

The limits w ithin which we are at present confined, forbid us to 
go over the whole ground of debate with Capt. Stuart. He touches 
upon every topic connected with the subject ; and he shows that in 
respect to every one of the bearings and tendencies of African 
colonization, he has been led into error. Some of these topics 
we shall omit; and the others we shall touch only currente cal- 
amo. For example, he speaks with much stress about what he 
calls ' the cruel and criminal prejudice against the free colored 
people, and the dreadful persecutions to which it subjects them ;' 
and he alledges that colonization grows out of this prejudice, and 
tends only to strengthen it. Respecting that point, we have of- 
fered some considerations on a former occasion ;* and we must 
now simply refer the reader to the hints then thrown out. He also 
speaks of the " moral wretchedness of Africa," and scouts the 
idea of removing that by colonization. We shall say nothing of 
that subject; for to argue that point would divert us from our 
more immediate object. 

After a k\Y introductory observations, Capt. Stuart opens his at- 
tack by displaying in three parallel columns, his views of the evils 
which need a remedy, of the remedy needed, and of the remedy 
proposed by the American Colonization Society. 01 this tri- 
columnar statement, we copy those particulars on which we think 
it worth while for us to comment. 

Tlio Kvils whiih nfi-.l iirc.i.wly. Rtmotly needed. Rem«(ly JirepoocH I'V ih« Am. C.il. Society. 

1. Tlie Urutiil and de- The immediate aboli- The sending to Africa 
grading personal slavery tion, by a well digested leg- under circumstances as fa- 
of upwards of two million islative enactment in each vorable as in their power, 

^ Christian Spectator, 1832, pp. 323—827- 



15 

f he •Yila whi«li Mcd a r»iM«iy. Fem^Hy n«edad. R« iiedy jrropowd by Ihe Am. Col. Sooiely. 

unofiending subjects of the slave state and in congress, of as many of the enslaved 
United iStates. of the brutal, criminal, and and unoi^'ending negioes 

ruinous system of negro as tlieir own masters may 
slavery, and the immediate please to emancipate for 
substitution in its place, of thalpurpose. 
a law worthy of a great, 
free, and enlightened coun- 
try. 
» » * « # 

3. The African slave The immediate and uni- The settlement of a free 

trade coniinued. versal abolition of its only colored colony, under cir- 

source and support, negro cumstanues as favorable as 

slavery. in their power, upon the 

coast of Africa. 

* * ^ # ^t 

5. Theruinouscondition The conversion of their The removal from the 
of the slave States. slave laborers into free la- United States as quickly as 

borers, — of their unwilling possible ofa vast proportion 
into willing hands. of all its laboring strength. 

6. The terrors of the Undissembling repen- Removing, as conde- 
slave-maaters. tance, and fruits meet for scendingly as possible, as 

repentance; aud for this many of the objects oftheir 
purpose the continual set- terrors as they wish to get 
ting before them of their rid of, that they may keep 
sin ; and morally speak- the remainder as long as 
ing, giving them no peace they please, without fear, 
in their iniquity. pp. 8, 9. 

The evils to be remedied are well enough defined, excepting the 
last. The " terrors," or as we would rather say, the dangers which 
need to be removed, are not peculiar to " the slave-masters." It 
is not the proprietors of slaves alone that live in continual danger 
and alarm, under the present system at the south. The entire 
population of those regions in which slavery abounds, live, as it 
were, on the sides of a volcano, that ever and anon heaves under 
them. When the midnight bell rings the alarm in Charleston or 
Savannah, and the drums beat to arms in the streets, does the man 
who owns no slaves feel safer in his bed, than the man who owns a 
thousand .'' Not at all. The terror of the planter is not so much 
the dread that his own slaves will murder him, or fire his dwelling, 
as it is the dread of a general convulsion ; and that dread, the 
dread of seeing sudden conflagration lighted up around them, far 
and near, is the common terror of the entire population. 

But let us notice the remedies which Capt. Stuart proposes to 
employ for the removal of these great evils. The remedy for the 
slavery which exists in the United States, is ' the immediate aboli- 
tion of slavery by a legislative enactment, in each slave state and 
in congress, and the immediate substitution of a law, worthy of a 
great, free, and enlightened people.' Reader, notice the admirable 
simplicity of the proposal. The remedy for slavery is, that slavery 
should cease. How simple and yet how effectual. Certainly this 
looks like philosophy. A fire is raging in a crowded street. Men 
are hurrying to and fro, and forming lines to bring water from dis- 
tant reservoirs. " Stop !" cries a looker on, of speculative habits, 
" the remedy for this spreading evil is perfectly obvious; you have 



16 

only to arrest, immediately, the combination of oxygen with yon- 
der combusiitjle substances, and all will be well. This is no half- 
way plan, no far-fetched contrivance ; it is simple, and strikes at the 
very root of the mischief. How beautiful is the simplicity of truth. 
How charming is divine philosophy." Ah ! Mr. Philosopher, you 
talk learnedly ; no doubt the way to stop a fire is to make it cease 
burning ; but there is a practical difficulty about your proposal. 
You propose a result, but say nothing about the process. The 
question with a working man who desires to do something towards 
the extinction of the fire, is how ? Your remedy is extinction ; 
but our question of how, you leave unanswered. Hov/ is this 
combination of oxygen with combustible substances to be arrested ? 
Answer us that, Mr. Philosopher, and you tell us something to the 
purpose. So we answer Capt. Stuart. No doubt the immediate 
abolition of slavery by a well digested legislative enactment in 
each slave state and in congress, would put an end to slavery : 
but pray tell us how this immediate abolition is to be brought 
about; tell us how these well digested enactments, by a dozen 
legislative bodies, are to be immediately obtained. 

The remedy proposed for the African slave-trade is liable to 
a similar objection. No man can doubt that "the immediate and 
universal abolition of negro slaveiy" would be an immediate and 
effectual abolition of the slave-trade. But the unfortunate cir- 
cumstance of the case is that the immediate and universal abolition 
of slavery is out of the question. A neighbor of ours has a piece 
of land which is overflowed by every tide. He is inquiring how 
the evil may be remedied. One man proposes to build a dike 
of sufficient height to shut out the waters. Another steps in and 
tells him that to build a dike will be a very expensive and hazard- 
ous undertaking, and with infinite gravity assures him that the rem- 
edy actually needed, and the only truly philosophical and suffic- 
ient remedy, is an enlargement of the moon's orbit. ''For," says 
this learned Theban, " it is a well known fact that the only cause 
of tides is the attraction of gravitation between the waters of the 
ocean and the moon ; and it is one of the great and unchangeable 
laws of nature that the attraction of gravitation between any two mas- 
ses of matter is inversely as the square of their distance. Thus the 
farther off the moon is from the earth, the less will be its power to 
attract the waters of the ocean, and the less will be the height of 
the highest tide. What then can be plainer than that die only ra- 
tional and infallible remedy for the difficulty in respect to this 
piece of meadow, is an immediate enlargement of the orbit of the 
moon's revolution round the earth." We are very far from intima- 
ting, by this comparison, that the universal abolition of slavery is 
as absolutely and as fur bevond the reach of human eflbrt, as a 
change in the moon's orbit ; but when wo consitler the vast extent 
of the earth's surface, over which negro slavery is spread, and the 
diversified and unconnected governments under which it exists, — 



when we think what changes must be wronglit, not only in the 
United States and Great Britain, but in the countries subject to the 
Spanish, French, Dutch, Danish, BraziHan, and we know not how 
many other scepters, before slavery can be abolished, — we have no 
hesitation in saying, that any man who gravely proposes the imme- 
diate and universal abolition of negro slavery, as the first and only 
thing to be done for the termination of the African slave-trade, de- 
serves a place in the academy of philosophers on the flying island. 

So of the remedy proposed for the ruinous condition of the 
slave-holding States, we entertain no doubt that " the conversion of 
their slave laborers into free laborers," would be worth more to 
those states than all " the wealth of Ormus or of Ind." The prob- 
lem is, to effect this conversion. How shall we make the people 
of South Carolina willing to give freedom to their bondmen ? 

Under the last head, it will be noticed that the author recom- 
mends as a remedy for the dangers of the south, not only, " undis- 
sembling repentance, and fruits meet for repentance," but also, and 
in order to this, "the continual setting before them of their sin, 
and, morally speaking, giving them no peace in their iniquity." 
This looks like proposing to use means that may bring about, by 
and by, a result which cannot be fm???prfm?'e/?/ accomplished. The 
only question, then, between us and the men of Capt. Stuart's school 
is. What are the means by which our fellow citizens of the south 
may be most certainly and most speedily led to the voluntary abo- 
lition of slavery among them ? We believe in the efficacy of dis- 
cussion, to enlighten and reform public opinion, even on the sub- 
ject of slavery in a slaveholding state ; but how shall the discus- 
sion be started ? and how shall it be carried on ? and how shall it 
be made to reach and pervade the community that is to be affec- 
ted by it, a community irritable and inflammable on every subject, 
and in respect to this subject, fixed and ferocious in the determin- 
ation that there shall be no discussion within their territories? 
Doubtless our author thinks that all this is the easiest and plainest 
thing in the world. If so, we propose to the gallant Captain an 
experiment, the undertaking of which will at least demonstrate his 
courage and sincerity, and the performance of which will test the 
soundness of his opinion. Let him come over and show us in 
person, how the thing is to be done. Let him pass through the 
southern states, an apostle of immediate and universal emancipa- 
tion. Let him trav^el from plantation to plantation, and from city 
to city, to carry on this discussion with the slave-holders ; distrib- 
uting along his course tracts, prints, broad sheets, that shall illus- 
trate to the mind and to the eye the cruelties of slavery ; and 
preaching as he goes, the sacred inalienable and universal rights 
of man. Let him in his proper person, undertake to call to repen- 
tance the slave-holders of the south, those " felons in h§art and in 
deed," as he denominates them, whose crime — a crime repeated 
every day and every hour — is only inferior " to intentional and 



18 

malignant murder." Let him deal with these offenders face to 
face, " continually setting before them their sin," in his own style 
and fashion, and " giving them no peace in their iniquity." If the 
Captain will undertake this mission, we pledge ourselves to give 
him every facihty in our power. We will subscribe to his sup- 
port. We, as colonizationists, and with all the popularity which 
our famous apologies for slavery have secured for us, will give him 
a letter of introduction to our southern friends. And if he does 
not find the undertaking more forlorn than it would be to lead a 
forlorn hope at the storming of Gibraltar ; if he does not find that 
he might as safely have undertaken to preach the accountability 
of monarchs, and the sovreignty of the people, in the public 
squares of Vienna, or have gone as wisely to Constantinople with 
Mary Fisher, to persuade the Grand Seignor to turn qnaker ; if 
he does not find, ere tlie first week of his mission is accomplished, 
that he is casting liis pearls before swine ; if he does not find them 
turning again to rend him, fiercer, stronger, less to be reasoned 
with than the very bulls of Bashan, — we will acknowledge that he 
has the best of the argument. 

What then is the bearing of African colonization on the aboli- 
tion of slavery ? Capt. Stuart's account of this is honest doubtless ; 
but, in our view, it is obviously very much the result of misappre- 
hension, and, to use a favorite word of his own, of prejudice. He 
says that the remedy proposed by the American Colonization So- 
ciety for " the brutal and degrading personal slavery of upwards 
of two millions" is "ihe sending to Africa under circumstances 
as favorable as in their power, as many of the enslaved an unof- 
fending negroes, as their own masters may please to emancipate 
for that purpose;" and he asks, " What kind of remedy will it be 
to the brutal enslavement of two millions, increasing at the rate of 
fifty thousand annually, that annually a few hundreds, (or thous- 
ands if it should ever be) have their slavery commuted into trans- 
portation ?" We answer. No man, in his senses ever thought that 
the simple transportation of a. few hundreds or thousands annually, 
could be, considered alone and disconnected from the relations 
and tendencies of the work, a remedy for slavery. The Captain 
talks about " sending to Africa," and " removal," and transpor- 
tation," as if sending these men to Africa, removing them out of 
the United Slates, transporting them beyond the seas, were a fair 
and full dcscrij)iion of the society's undertaking. But colonizing 
them in Ahica, is a irnich more comprehensive expression, than 
merely sending them to Africa. African colonization, and not 
simple transpoilation, is the thing which the society {)roposes as its 
work ; and that is the thing, the bearing of which on the abolition 
of slavery, is called in (piestiou. 

\^ e have often expressed our views of this subject, more or less 
in detail ;^ and in C'apt. Stuarts argumentation, we discover nolh- 

" t'hrisliuii S|)irl;ii(>r, 18^0. |>p. 477 -'IT!). 



19 

ing to change or iiiodily our opinions. Arguments derived from 
the alledged motives of colonizationists, whether they come from 
Stuart or from Garrison, weigh nothing at all with us. The ques- 
tion is, what will be the results of the work ? Not, what are the 
motives imputed to its supporters? If the building up of a civili- 
zed and christian state in Africa, by the emigration of people of 
color from America, tends in fact to the abolition of slavery, all 
the expectations to the contrary which may be entertained by the 
friends of slavery, canilot reverse that which is as sure as the re- 
lation of cause and efiect. We have to do with tendencies, not 
with intentions. Capt. Stuart's only argument on this subject, not 
derived from the supposed motives of those who favor the society, 
is this : Every slave emancipated and removed, increases the mar- 
ket value of those that remain ; and thus, by making it more the 
interest of the slaveholder to hold fast his property, increases tha 
mighty difficulty in the way of abolition. But what is this argu- 
ment worth ? It supposes that slave labor will actually be removed 
from the market faster than free labor can come in to meet the 
demand thus created — a supposition which, both Stuart and Gar- 
rison would most earnestly protest, can never be realized. The 
argument is, to us, as if some man should object to the scheme of 
the Temperance Society, the scheme of total abstinence, that it 
tends to reduce the price of ardent spirits, and thus to promote in- 
temperance ; because the more subscribers there are to this scheme, 
the less will be the demand for spirits ; and the less the demand 
the less will be the market value of the article, and the easier will 
it be for the idle and the dissipated, to obtain the means of intox- 
ication. To such an argument, if it should be thought worth an- 
swering, the answer would be ; first, that there is no danger that 
the cause will advance with so rapid and sudden a movement as 
to produce, even for the shortest time, any considerable dispropor- 
tion between the demand and the supply ; and secondly, that even 
should such an effect be incidentally and temporarily produced, 
the moral influence of the Temperance Society, the nature and in- 
evitable tendency of its scheme, is to the suppression of intemper- 
ance. And this is the answer we should give to the argument; 
in question, respecting the tendency of colonization. 

The actual tendencies of the enterprise of planting colored col- 
onies in Africa from America, are, so far as the abolition of slave- 
ry is concerned, the following. Our limits will permit us to ex- 
hibit but little more thad a naked summary. 

1. It secures in many instances the emancipation of slaves by in- 
dividuals, and thus brings the power of example to bear on public 
sentiment. This is not conjecture ; it is proved by the induction 
of particulars. The friends of the Colonization Society, in their 
arguments on this subject, can read off a catalogue of instances, 
in which emancipation has already resulted from the progress of 
this wbrk. We know that on the other hand it is said, that the 



20 

arguments aud statements of colonizationists prevent emancipation. 
But the proper [)roof of this assertion would be, to bring forward the 
particular facts. Tell us of the individuals who have, as a matter of 
fact, been effectually hindered from setting their slaves at large, by 
what they have I'ead in the African Repository, or by what they 
have heard from the agents of the society. We say then that, un- 
less the testimony of facts can deceive us, colonization is bringing the 
power of example to bear on public sentiment at the south, in re- 
gard to slavery. Each single instance of emancipation is indeed a 
small matter when compared with the continued slavery of two 
millions ; but every such instance, occurring in the midst of a slave- 
holding community, is a strong appeal to the natural sentiments of 
benevolence and justice in all who witness it. 

2. This work, as it advances, tends to improve the character 
and elevate the condition of the free people of color, and thus to 
take away one standing and very influential argument against both 
individual emancipation and general abolition. This, to an unpre- 
judiced mind, is one of the most obvious tendencies of African 
colonization. As we said on a former occasion,* so we say again, 
with the assurance that whoever may deny it, none will disbelieve 
it, ' Not Hayti has done more to make the. negro character respect- 
ed by mankind, and to afford the means of making the negro con- 
scious of his manhood, than Liberia has already accomplished. 
The name of Lot Cary is worth more than the name of Boyer or 
Petion. It has done, it is doing, more to rescue the African char- 
acter from degradation, than could be done by a thousand volumes 
of reproaches against [)rejudice.' And thus it has done and is do- 
ing, more to accelerate the abolition of slavery, than could be done 
by a ship load of such pamphlets and speeches as some that we 
might mention. Elevate the character of the free people of color 
— let it be seen that they are men indeed — let the degrading as- 
sociations which follow them, be broken up by the actual improve- 
ment of their character as a people ; and negro slavery must rap- 
idly wither and die. 

3. African colonization, so far as it is successful, will bring free 
labor into the fairest and most extended competition with slave la- 
bor, and will thus make the universal abolition of slavery inevitable. 
Doubtless the cultivation of tropical countries by the labor of free 
and civilized men, most at some time or other bring about this re- 
sult, whether our colony is to prosper or to fail. We know what 
changes have taken place in Mexico and the South American re- 
publics. We know what changes are threatened and promised in 
the West Indies. But at tlic same time we are confident, that the 
most rapid and most effectual way to bring free labor into fair com- 
petition with slave labor, and thus to drive the products of the latter 
out of every market, is to establish on the soil of Africa, a free and 
civilized commonwealth, whose institutions shall all be fashioned 

' Ciiristiaii ISpcttator, \S3:i. pp. 325, 32G. 



21 

after American models, and whose population shall be pervaded 
and impelled by the spirit of American enterprize. This is the 
work which the American Colonization Society is prosecuting with 
all its resources. The friends of slavery may dream that this work 
is to secure and perpetuate that miserable system ; but if any of 
them do thus imagine, they err as widely in that, as they do in 
supposing that the repeal of the protective tarif will relieve them of 
their embarrassments. The free-trade principles, for which they 
are now contending, are the principles which will, by and by, bring 
all slaveholders to the alternative of universal emancipation or uni- 
versal bankruptcy. 

4. The prosecution of this work is already introducing into the 
slaveholding states, inquiry and discussion respecting the evils of 
the existing structure of society there, and the possibility of its 
abolition. The great body of the friends of the Colonization So- 
ciety at the south, no less than at the north, regard the scheme of 
that institution as something that will ultimately, in some way, de- 
liver the country from the curse of slavery. All who oppose the 
society there, oppose it on the same ground ; they look upon it as 
being, in its tendency and in the hopes of its supporters, an anti- 
slavery project. Thus in those very regions over which the sys- 
tem of slavery sheds all its blasting influences, there is constituted 
a party, the members of which are recognized by their opposers, 
and more or less distinctly by themselves, as hostile to slavery, 
and as looking for an opportunity to move for its abolition. In this 
way it was that when the occasion presented itself, a few months ago, 
the legislature of Virginia became the scene of earnest and public 
discussion on this long interdicted theme : and to the astonishment 
of the nation it appeared, that the party opposed to slavery was only 
not a majority. Had colonization never been thought of — had the 
scheme of the American Colonization Society never been under- 
taken, — who believes that projects for the abolition of slavery would 
have been so soon, if ever, discussed in the legislature of Virginia? 
Without that preparation of the public mind which the Coloniza- 
tion Society, in the calm and peaceful prosecution of its labors, has 
indirectly accomplished, insurrection and massacer, with all the fear 
and horror which they occasion, would have led only to new cruel- 
ties of legislation and of practice. There is no oppression so un- 
relenting or desperate as when the oppressor fears his subjects ; 
and the unanimous feeling of Virginia would have been — erroneous 
indeed, but not on that account the less irresistible or inflexible — 
a feeling like that of him who holds a wolf by the ears; — it is 
dangerous to keep him, but more dangerous to let him loose, and 
therefore the more furious the struggles of the prisoner, the fiercer 
and closer will be the despairing grasp that holds him. 

We entertain no doubt that the discussion thus commenced 
will gradually become more free and thorough, and will appeal 
more directly to the great law that acknowledges the inalienable 



22 

and universal rights of man, and will at the same time find its way 
still farther south, till it pervades and awakens every State from 
the Potomac to the gulph of Mexico. This is inevitable ; the 
discussion of such a subject, involving such hopes and fears and 
interests, when once it has been opened, can never be suppressed. 
Nor is this all. Such a system as slavery cannot long withstand 
the power of free and full discussion. The hour in which the de- 
bate on slavery commenced in the capitol at Richmond, may be 
considered as having sealed the death-warrant of the system, not 
only for Virginia, but for the nation. And now it may be said that 
whatever is to be hereafter the success of the Colonization Society in 
the prosecution of its own appropriate enterprise, this great result 
is ultimately sure. Not that it has nothuig more to do by its indi- 
rect influence in accelerating this result ; certainly the greater the 
success which shall attend the colonization of Africa, the greater 
will be the progress of public opinion towards this consummation. 
But let the society be dissolved, let the pirates of the African seas 
wreak on Liberia their cherished wrath ; let Montserado be made 
again a mart for the slave-trade ; let the spot now adorned with 
christian churches become again the scene of devil-worship ; let 
the smiling villages on the St. Paul's be made desolate, and the 
now cultivated soil be overspread again with the vegetation of the 
wilderness; still it will be true that the indirect influence of the 
American Colonization Society, has secured the ultimate abolition 
of slavery. 

The treatise in the American Quarterly Review, referred to at 
the head of this article, is an illustration of what we have been say- 
ing. It shows that the discussion is to proceed ; that those interested 
in the perpetuation of slavery are constrained to come down from 
that high attitude of pride and defiance which they have been wont 
to maintain, and begin to feel the necessity of defending their cause 
by argument. "We have heretofore doubted," says this writer, 
" the propriety of loo freqviently agitating, especially in a public 
manner, the questions of abolition, in consequence of | we suppose 
he means, on account of] the injurious effects which might be pro- 
duced on the slave population. But the Virginia legislature, in 
its zeal for discussion, boldly sot aside all j)rudcntial considerations 
of this kind, and openly and publicly debated the subject before 
the whole world. The seal has now been broken, the example 
has been set Irom a high quarter ; we shall thereibre waive all con- 
siderations of a prudential character which have heretofore restrain- 
ed us, and boldly grapple with the abolitionists on this great ques- 
tion." The seal is broken indeed. A new order of things has 
already begun, when a slaveholding politician finds himself con 
strained to write seventy-five pages, of closely printed argument^ 
against the al)olition of slavery. 

We shall not attempt the task of replying to this writer. That 



23 

has been already done, as we perceive, and ably done, by another 
writer in the same work,* a writer whose powerfld and accomplished 
mind we are happy to see again employed on this so deeply inter- 
esting subject. We shall take an early opportunity, however, to 
exaniine somewhat at length the various processes by which slavery 
might be abolished ; and to inquire what would be the probable 
fate of the colored population and of the southern country, if sla- 
very should be abolished, and the emancipated blacks be left to 
shift for themselves in competition with an intelligent, enterprising, 
laborious, and growing population of another race. 

Meanwhile we suggest, for the consideration of our readers at 
the south, a few inquiries addressed to their consciences as chris- 
tians. We beg them to read with candor, and to remember that 
we do not dictate nor denounce, but only inquire. 

1 . Is it not your duty to be continually promoting in your sphere 
of influence, inquiry and discussion respecting the practicability and 
duty of abolishing slavery ? This may demand much prudence 
and meekness, and much courage ; but now that the subject is fairly 
out 'for universal examination and debate, now that il is no longer 
at the option of the southern community whether such discussion 
shall be permitted, ought you not to inform yourself respecting 
the facts and principles that have a bearing on the controversy ? 
and as you have opportunity and influence, ought you not to lead 
your neighbors to similar inquiries ? so that, as you and they are 
called to act on this great interest, you and they may act, not un- 
der the influence of prejudice and passion, but calmly and with 
all the light which philosophy and history have thrown upon the 
subject. 

2. Is it not your duty to befriend the free blacks by all the kind 
offices in your power ? You look upon them as a dangerous class ; 
will they be more dangerous, think you, if christian philanthropy, 
remembering that God hath made of one blood all nations of men, 
searches them out in their degradation, and diligently seeks to do 
them good ? You say they are indolent, thriftless, and vicious ; can 
you do nothing to give them employment, to encourage the begin- 
nings of their industry, and to train their children to better habits ? 
Can you do nothing to waken their minds and to inspire them with 
new ideas and motives, by telling them of what benevolence has 
proposed for their benefit, and of that father-land of theirs beyond 
tile sea, which offers them a refuge for themselves, and a broad and 
fair inheritance for their children ? 

3. Is it not your duty to insist on the instruction of the colored 
population bond and free ? Startle not— nor reject the inquiry till 
you have pondered it well. " Our danger," said a slaveholder! to 
the writer of this article, not many months ago, " is not from the 

"American Qnaiterly Review, No. XXIV. p. 379. 

t A slaveholder— or, at least, one whose sympathies are all vvitJi the slavehold 
ers of the South. 



24 

intelligence of these people, but from their ignorance." What can be 
more undeniable, what can be plainer than that it is ignorance which 
creates such fanatics as Nat Turner, and ignorance, dark and brutal 
ignorance, which fits their fellow slaves to be their dupes and victims? 
Who does not believe that if the negroes understood, as a little intel- 
ligence would make them understand, their own imbecility and the 
colossal vastness of the power which is pledged to hold them in sub- 
jection, the frequency and the danger of conspiracies and insurrec- 
tions, would be greatly diminished? W'ho does not believe that if 
the negroes, instead of being abandoned to the influence of such 
preachei's as rise up among themselves, with a pretended inspira- 
tion, were thoroughly instructed in the principles of the gospel by 
competent christian teachers, they would be far less dangerous than 
they now are ? Besides, the question whether the negroes shall 
have knowledge, Is no longer submitted to your choice or to thy 
choice of your fellow citizens. Many of them are learning self 
taught, or by mutual instruction, learning every day; learning t(v 
read and to write, learning every thing which your legislators think 
they ought not to learn. No laws, no police, no standing army can 
utterly hinder them from learning. You may still decide, however, 
whether they shall all be taught, or whether here and there an in- 
dividual acquiring knowledge by his own efforts shall, in that way, 
acquire a dangerous power over his degraded brethren. And It is 
still for you to say, whether they shall learn In spite of you, and 
as they learn, curse you for having taken away from them the key 
of knowledge ; or wliether the tie of gratitude and veneration that 
binds the Tearner to his teacher, shall bind them to you. We 
leave the question then with your sense of duty to yourselves and 
to the wretched beings among whom, and over whom, God has 
placed you, Ought you not to insist on the instruction of the col- 
ored population, bond and free. 

On the answer which is given to such questions as these, great 
interests are depending. Danger there may be in agitating the 
subject of reform and abolition ; but there is more danger, infinitely 
more, in sitting still, and saying. Peace, peace, while the bondage 
and ignorance and hideous degradation of two millions of human 
beings are becoming the bondage, the Ignorance, the degradation 
of three millions, and of four, and of millions accumulating upon 
millions, in successive generations. Danger there may be in ev- 
ery attempt to remedy such evils ; but in the evils themselves 
there Is a deadlier danger, and Is it not the height of cowardice to 
incur the greater for the sake of avoiding the less ? 



A. H. MAL.TBY 

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